Howard Thurman - Honors and Legacy

Honors and Legacy

Thurman was named honorary Canon of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, New York City.

The Ebony Magazine called Thurman one of the 50 most important figures in African-American history. In 1953 Life rated Thurman among the twelve most important religious leaders in the United States. Planned for 2008, a full-length documentary (The Psalm of Howard Thurman) of Dr. Thurman's life and work is in production by Arleigh Prelow, an independent filmmaker.

Boston University named the school's cultural center, in the basement of the George Sherman Union, after Howard Thurman. The university holds the Howard Thurman Papers and the Sue Bailey Thurman Papers, where they are catalogued and available to researchers. Because of Thurman's influence, editors have made new collections of Thurman's writings, which have been published since his death.

Howard Thurman's poem 'I Will Light Candles This Christmas' has been set to music by British composer and songwriter Adrian Payne, both as a song and as a choral (SATB) piece. The choral version was first performed by Epsom Choral Society in December 2007. An arrangement for school choirs, that can be performed in one or two parts with piano accompaniment, was first performed in December 2010.